Project represents city's latest efforts
to create more 'infill' development
By George Lurie
Visalia
- A public-private partnership that includes a handful of local agencies
has resulted in additional affordable housing in Visalia – and represents
a stepped up effort to create so-called 'infill' development throughout
the city.
Court and Paradise Apartments, located at the northeast corner of Court and Paradise streets, was developed by a team of agencies that included Kaweah Management Company, a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit, the Tulare County Housing Authority, Visalian's Interested in Affordable Housing (VIAH), the City of Visalia's Redevelopment Agency, Alliant Newport Partners and Verizon. All of the entities worked to provide the expertise and funding for this project.
The developer on the project was Ken Kugler and the apartments are being managed by Court and Paradise Associates, a California limited partnership.
The project is unique because Kaweah Management Company and the Housing Authority were able to acquire an existing apartment complex immediately adjacent to an old home and vacant lot, renovate the 11 rental units, relocate the old home, and construct a total of nine new rental units on the vacant lot and parcel where the home had been located.
Ricardo Noguera, Visalia's Housing and Economic Development director, said the new apartment complex is truly representative of an "infill project."
The City of Visalia and the Visalia Redevelopment Agency contributed $1 million dollars toward the construction and rehabilitation phases of the project. The City utilized $500,000 in HOME CHDO funds and another $500,000 loan in RDA low/mod funds.
Noguera said the effort demonstrates the continued effectiveness and need to maintain RDA funding in communities such as Visalia.
The fate of the state's hundreds of redevelopment agencies is expected to be determined early next year when the Supreme Court issues a ruling on the validity of Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to shutter the RDAs in order to generate approximately $2 billion to fill the California's burgeoning budget shortfall.
The Court and Paradise project's remaining development funding was made by Kaweah Management Company, the Housing Authority of Tulare County and Verizon, which committed to the project up to $2.1 million in low-income housing tax credits.
The project will consist of a total of 20 units. The newly constructed nine-unit addition will consist of three-bedroom units with two full baths and a single-car garage. A community building is also part of the project and will be available not only for tenant use but also for service providers to conduct training classes and other functions.
Developer Kugler said the project was developed "to the maximum extent possible" to provide usable greenscape areas and will have a Tot Lot with playground equipment as another one of its additional amenities.
The housing units will be available to families with income levels up to 60 percent of the area's median income, Kugler added. The rental range will run from $300 to $800, depending on the family's income and the number of bedrooms in the unit.
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